Here is a spiritual exercise in the way of sacred living: "Go in your backyard, or a park, and simply observe. As you look at these living creatures (trees, grass, stones) think of what Chesterton said, that each blade and leaf and pebble is what it is because God made it. The leaf is not green by necessity; God tells it to be, and keeps telling it to be. Practice seeing the world in this way."Before you dismiss this as "too imaginative" think about this scripture: "All things were created through Christ and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:16-17)
O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works.
(Psalm 104:24,31)
Consider this poem by Mary Oliver:
Messenger
My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird -
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here is quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,
which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.
Perhaps we can practice "learning to be astonished." This is not all that we need to know, but I think she is pointing to how we need to live. Knowing what and Who we know, it seems that we should find ourselves free to practice seeing the world differently, learning to be astonished.
